X Marks the Spot Pirate Treasure Hunt

X marks the spot! Kids love a good pirate treasure hunt. Today I’m adding in some preschool literacy skills with letter recognition and pre-writing practice. I get commissions for purchases made through the affiliate links in this post.

X Marks the Spot Pirate Treasure Hunt

My 4 year old, Lily, has been practicing writing her name lately. She’s easily got the first 3 letters down, but she struggles with the y. She needs more practice with pre-writing lines. (The ability to write diagonals and an X develops around ages 4-5.)

To give her more practice, I focused our pirate treasure hunt on the letter X. X marks the spot after all. I created a page of Xs to practice tracing the letters.

Download the X Marks the Spot Pre-Writing Practice printable here.

I also created a tracing page with Xs and lower case letters. You can download the X Marks the Spot Letter Writing Practice printable here.

Every pirate treasure hunt needs a treasure. For our treasure, I used Alphabet Acorns from Learning Resources.

You could use anything really. If you want to practice letter learning, create some paper coins and write the alphabet on them. Or practice beginning letter sounds by hiding some favorite toys. When you find the toy, talk about what letter it starts with.

The alphabet acorns have capital letters written on the outside. Lower case letters are written on the inside of the acorn cap. Each acorn has a small colorful object that begins with the letter. They are just perfect for a little treasure hunt.

After Lily found an X, she would say the letter on the acorn and excitedly open it up to see what was inside. She named the object and we said the letter again.

Next, Lily practiced tracing the letter X. I cut apart the Xs and covered them with contact paper to make them more durable. Using a dry erase marker makes them reusable. Just wipe away and you’re ready to write again.

I printed the letter y on the back of our Xs so Lily could get specific practice for her name.

Use the X Marks the Spot Letter Writing Practice printable and you can practice whatever letters you would like. Make the letters match the Alphabet Acorns for even more consistency.

We took our pirate treasure hunt outside. The white paper made the Xs easy to find. You could easily do this alphabet hunt inside, too.

Having a wide open space adds in some gross motor practice. Encourage your kids to get moving and run to find the next X.

I love that we were able to work on so many preschool skills while have a super fun treasure hunt.

More Pre-Writing Activities for Preschoolers

• Set up a Dragon Sensory Writing Tray to practice pre-writing skills.
• Grab some pumpkins and chalk markers for a Pumpkin Pre-Writing Activity with Chalk Markers.
• Check out the Make Your Mark ebook for 30+ projects to promote writing and storytelling with your kids.

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